What is the “Jesus Prayer”?

The goal of sacred worship — and of prayer in particular — is closeness to God through constant dialogue with Him. Hence, both scripture and holy tradition provide a varied approach to prayer through which the believer is able to attain to constant prayer without ceasing. The believer begins with prayer in every work he undertakes; even before he sleeps. He participates in liturgies, prays the psalms, and his own personal prayers. To preserve his thought from distraction, he offers up prayers that cannot be counted with words or sentences, remembering always the presence of God in his life, so that he lives in a state of constant communication with Him; prayers that he can recite or repeat at any time, even when he is performing any kind of work. Being confident in the power of the name of Jesus, the believer repeats it often. This is what we call the Jesus Prayer.

The Desert Fathers often recited this prayer or other short prayers, which represent a cry to the Lord. St. Augustine used to repeat this prayer: “Make haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord” (Ps. 70:1); and he encouraged the faithful to repeat it on every occasion: at home; at work; while eating or drinking; while awake or asleep; in grief or joy; when spiritually zealous or lukewarm in worship — for this prayer is particularly helpful. St. Augustine used to call this short prayer, “the arrow prayer,” for it shoots an arrow into the heart of the devil and prevents him from distracting our thoughts so long as we pray it. St. John of the Ladder (Climacus) urges us to employ this short prayer saying, “Let your prayer be completely simple. For both the publican and the prodigal son were reconciled to God by a single phrase.”²⁹³